Wim van Spengen's thoughtfully researched and carefully-written
monograph is a useful addition to the growing corpus of literature on the
Tibeto-Burman peoples of the Himalaya and their economies. In 'Tibetan Border
Worlds', the author's stated objective is to 'lay bare the geostructural
characteristics of a particular regional history' (p.52), in this case that
of the Nyishangba, an ethnically Tibetan trading community whose homeland
is the Manang district of west-central Nepal.

In the first chapter, Van Spengen takes the reader on an intellectual
journey through the various theories which engaged him prior to fieldwork,
including his self-confessed 'flirtation with world-system theory' (p.
3). The author succinctly elucidates the strengths and weaknesses of a
sometimes bewildering range of intellectual viewpoints (with a particular
focus on Braudel and the Annales school) and concludes that 'we should
avoid a situation in which theory becomes the weapon of argument' (p.
8). He also appears to suggest that geographers would do well to read
a little anthropology and history: 'geography as a discipline has much
to gain by a regional point of view in which the historical experience
of human groups is thoroughly embedded' (p. 8) and even that they might
'think' more ethnographically when conducting their fieldwork, thereby
restoring 'synthetic description to its proper place in regional geography'
(p. 14).

With this theoretical backdrop, then, chapter two sets the historical
and political scene. This section will be of greatest interest to readers
unfamiliar with the details of the emergence of the Tibetan state and
the often-changing alliances between rulers in the region, even though
at points it reads rather like an annotated bibliography (cf. pp. 29-30).
Following Macdonald, Van Spengen comes to the pertinent conclusion that
in defiance of Chinese and Indian attempts to claim the area as their
own, the 'Himalayan region has functioned in the past not merely as a
barrier but as a geographical region in its own right' (p.50). The author's
emphasis is welcome: Himalayan ethnic groups and their cultures are indeed
viable cultural entities in their own right.

The following chapter deals with the regionality of Tibet. The author
contends it 'never developed beyond a cell-like structure, dominated by
a hierarchy of greater and lesser monasteries', at least in a 'regional-organizational
sense' (p. 70). Van Spengen's argument is clear and convincing: he suggests
that monasteries formed a 'substitute for urban life' and makes an insightful
distinction between regional exchange and long-distance trade. Whereas
the former had been linked to lesser monasteries, the latter had been
concentrated in newer towns and large fairs. State formation, particularly
in the nineteenth century, influenced trade flows and even reshaped the
'frontier' character of Tibet, which was being replaced by 'contending
imperialist spheres of interest, ultimately leading to a Chinese-dictated
Indo-Tibetan boundary in the Himalayan region' (p. 98).

Entitled 'The Geohistory of Tibetan Trade', chapter four offers a detailed
account of barter and trade in tea, wool and luxury goods. Van Spengen
demonstrates his wide reading and careful research by presenting fascinating
examples and first-hand accounts of traders in the region. The contrast
between the trade in tea, 'an inward-looking affair', with that of wool,
'an outwardly directed phenomenon' (p. 110), is an important one. The
facts speak for themselves: by 1944, wool made up 90 per cent of Tibet's
annual export some of it even reaching America (p. 118).

The involvement of organized religion with trade is also referred to
in this chapter, but Van Spengen is careful not to jump to conclusions:
'It is quite likely, though not proven beyond any doubt, that the rise
of the Gelukpa order in Central Tibet, and its consolidation into a kind
of ecclesiastical state in the seventeenth century, was at least partly
related to the wealth generated by long-distance trade' (p. 135). During
this chapter, the emphasis has shifted from a discussion of traditional
barter and exchange to an examination of the networks of long-distance
trade. The scene is now set for the introduction of the protagonists:
the Nyishangba of Manang.

In the style of a more traditional ethnographic account, chapter five
locates the Nyishangba in their historical, geographical, and cultural
setting. According to Van Spengen's analysis, trade became the 'single-most
important determinant of village life' among the Nyishangba, almost an
obsession which he sees as precipitating 'an overall decay' in more traditional
life (p. 162). A feature particular to the Nyishangba, and therefore worthy
of focus, is their 'southward-bound trading network' (p. 172) which existed
on a far larger scale and much earlier than among other Tibeto-Burman
ethnic groups, with the possible exception of the urban Newar.

The remaining chapters demonstrate how and to which extent the Nyishangba
integrated themselves into wider trading networks in general, and into
the Southeast Asian capitalist economy in particular. Only after individuals
and small groups returned to Manang with money in their pockets and stories
of trading possibilities beyond the border did larger groups set out to
'emerging centres of urban colonial activity' (p. 175) such as Calcutta,
which by the 1920s had already become the single most-important site for
Nyishangba traders. Transport technology also played a central role: what
trains have done to facilitate intra-continental travel around 1900, planes
achieved half a century later. In the 1950s, the trading horizon for many
Nyishangba included previously unimaginable destinations such as Bangkok
and Singapore. Van Spengen describes this period as one of 'incipient...capitalist
activity in the fullest sense of the word' (p. 203). The Nyishangba position
was further enhanced in the 1960s, when they benefited from government
trade policies, thus profiting from the well-established networks, relationships
and commercial infrastructures they had built throughout South and Southeast
Asia. Van Spengen's account of the Nyishangba trading prowess extends
to the late 1970s, by which time the most adventurous of the traders were
making the most of the possibilities afforded by the growth of Hong Kong.

Although painstakingly researched and very well written, Tibetan Border
Worlds is not free of problems. The most important issue is one of structure:
the author has in fact written two equally interesting books, one on trade
(the first 144 pages) and one on traders (the last 90 pages). Only in
the very final pages of his study does he bring his theory and the wider
context of Tibetan history together with the ethnography of the Nyishangba
as a case-specific trading community.It does seem that Van Spengen has
consciously opted to keep them apart until the end, a feature which may
frustrate some readers. Adventure-story one-liners such as: 'this study
is the outcome of a journey through lands but dimly known and books long
shelved for posterity'(viii) and those about Tibet: 'on these high tablelands
roam a few hardy nomads' (p. 18) may rankle with some Tibetologists, whereas
the poor reproductions of the maps (p. 43 and 63) are a little off-putting
in a geography book. Whilst the work is analytically written, it contains
occasional lapses into generalizing soundbites and sometimes slightly
obfuscating terminology.

The ethnographic component in Tibetan Border Worlds is based largely
on a three-month fieldwork trip in 1981. The standard structure of such
a book is such that history stops when ethnography takes over, so here
the ethnography is in need of an update. Nineteen years is a very long
time for a community of dynamic and fast-moving traders, and Nyishangba
entrepreneurs are at present engaged in such diverse trades as pashmina
export, Internet start-ups, hotel management, and money laundering. We
can but hope that the author will find a way to return to the hills of
Manang, to the carpet factories of Kathmandu and to the computer fairs
of Southeast Asia and provide us with an insightful update into the lives
of these unstoppable traders.